There is a known information processing device configured to estimate an attribute value associated with an estimation target object that is one object in a universal set containing a plurality of objects associated with an attribute value that is a value representing whether an object has an attribute. One of information processing devices of this type is applied to a universal set in which each object is associated with a plurality of attribute values each representing whether the object has each of a plurality of attributes.
This information processing device extracts an object whose attribute value for a certain attribute is the same as (or similar to) that of an estimation target object. Then, based on an attribute value for another attribute associated with the extracted object, the information processing device estimates an attribute value for the attribute associated with the estimation target object.
For example, an information processing device described in Non-Patent Document 1 as one of information processing devices of this type, based on the similarity of social bookmarks as attribute values registered by users (consumers) as objects, extracts users having similar interest. Then, this information processing device estimates an attribute value associated with a user (an estimation target object) as an estimation target based on information representing a commercial product or service as an attribute value associated with the extracted user. Moreover, information processing devices configured to execute similar estimation processes are described in Non-Patent Documents 2 and 3.
[Non-Patent Document 1] Kei Shiratsuchi, Shinichiro Yoshii, and Masashi Furukawa, “Information Recommendation Using Social Bookmark Service,” IPSJ SIG Notes, Information Processing Society of Japan, 2006, Volume 84, pp. 15-20
[Non-Patent Document 2] Takuya Shimizu, Toshinori Hijikata, and Shogo Nishida, “A Basic Study on Discovery-oriented Algorithm for Collaborative Filtering,” IPSJ SIG Notes, Information Processing Society of Japan, 2006, Volume 59, pp. 53-60
[Non-Patent Document 3] Stuart E. Middleton, Nigel R. Shadbolt, and David C. De Roure, “Ontological User Profiling in Recommender Systems,” ACM Transactions on Information Systems, Association for Computing Machinery, 2004, Volume 22, No. 1, pp. 54-88
However, there is a case that any object associated with the same object value as (or a similar object value to) an attribute value associated with an estimation target object does not exist regarding any attribute or any attribute value associated with an estimation target object does not exist. In these cases, there is a problem that the information processing devices described above cannot estimate an attribute value associated with an estimation target object.